Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) marched to his own drummer. He was guided by his conscience. Henry refused to pay poll taxes because they were being used to support slavery. He supported “civil disobedience,” a conscientious protest to unjust laws. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and others were inspired by him. The question remains: how far can we allow the individual to act on their own in the face of majority will?
Who Was Thoreau?
David Henry Thoreau (THOR-oh) was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1817.
Thoreau began to write a journal and called himself Henry David, just one sign of his individuality. Henry put special significance on self-expression and personal conscience. He loved nature. He advocated a life of simplicity and self-sufficiency. He had a snarky sense of humor.
After a woman turned down both his and his brother’s marriage proposals, Thoreau had no other romantic attachments. An older woman (Sophia Ford), a tutor and friend of the writer Louisa May Alcott (of Little Women fame), did propose marriage. He turned her down.
Thoreau was a leading transcendentalist. They emphasized nature, self-reliance, personal experience, and the goodness of all people. They were strongly antislavery.
Thoreau built a small house on Walden Pond and lived there for two years. It was a short distance away from Concord, but isolated enough to let Thoreau be by himself.
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
Thoreau was a teacher, poet, writer, and worked in many odd jobs. He eventually worked in his family’s pencil factory. Henry died in 1862 of tuberculosis, a lethal 19th-century disease.
Thoreau’s Night in Jail
Thoreau went into town from his cabin at Walden Pond on July 23, 1846, to run some errands.
The local sheriff met up with him. “Hey, Henry, how about those back taxes?” The sheriff looked the other way for years as Thoreau did not pay his annual $1.50 poll tax as a protest against the government’s involvement with slavery. Thoreau was now also protesting the government’s involvement in the Mexican War. It was getting a bit too much to ignore.
Henry refused to pay his taxes. He was arrested and went to jail.
His friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson (the poet), supposedly visited. “Why are you here?” Emerson reportedly asked. “Why are you not here?” Thoreau replied.
A family member paid the taxes, much to Henry David’s annoyance. He was freed after serving a night in jail. Henry then went to pick berries with some friends.
Civil Disobedience
Henry wrote a famous essay entitled “Resistance to Civil Government” or Civil Disobedience to justify his actions. It would inspire many activists. Thoreau appealed to the supremacy of the individual conscience over obligations to the state. It is a major piece of political philosophy.
Thoreau argued that a person had the obligation to follow their conscience. He rejected the philosophy of Socrates, who (according to Plato) was willing to die after a majority sentenced him to death. Majority rule alone is not enough for a law to be just and to justify its support.
“I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live but to live in it, be it good or bad.”
Henry was not an activist working toward change. He refused to be complicit in an unjust system (supporting slavery and the Mexican War). It was part of his individualism.
Passive Resistance
Civil disobedience argues that we do not have an obligation to support unjust laws. It does not allow you to break laws merely for personal gain. You also consent to arrest.
It is a form of passive resistance. Many people following the philosophy also support non-violence. Henry did not consistently do so. He would later support John Brown, who took part in a violent attempt to free slaves. He thought fighting slavery justified violence.
Henry supported the motto “government is best which governs least.” He acknowledged that some government (and taxes) were necessary. He used the roads, for instance, so he agreed he had an obligation to pay highway taxes. The question then becomes where to draw the line.
Slavery is a grave evil. But can each person truly decide on their own what laws to follow? After all, poll taxes were used to pay for many things. They might even be used for those roads.
Civil disobedience did not ultimately end slavery. It took a Civil War and a constitutional amendment. Resistance did provide a means to fight slavery. Henry helped fugitive slaves escape to Canada. An organized movement and government action were necessary to end slavery.
Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi was born in British-controlled India. He became a lawyer and moved to South Africa, where he experienced the second-class status of Indians under British rule.
How could the relatively powerless Indian people protest and change unjust British laws? Gandhi was inspired by Emerson’s writings. He would use civil disobedience, willing to be arrested while protesting injustice. He became a leader of the Indian people, who eventually won independence.
Gandhi was different from Emerson in some ways. He consistently believed in non-violence. Gandhi was also a leader of a movement, not just following the beat of his own drummer.
Gandhi inspired Martin Luther King Jr. King believed racial segregation was unjust. He led a movement following the principles of peaceful civil disobedience. He read Emerson, too.
The Beat Goes On
People continued to follow in Emerson’s footsteps, protesting nuclear weapons, animal cruelty, abortion, and many other things. Each was (is) guided by their conscience.
The basic questions remain. What is the limit of conscientious objection? How do you determine, if not by popular vote, if something is wrong? And, what is the best type of berries?